- MAE WEST
It may not be Mae West's favorite kind of trouble, but Draper is up to its armpits in hard times. And it did, indeed, take two parties to dig the painful pit.
Somehow - and it's hard to discern just how - parts of the high-toned SunCrest subdivision, which sits atop the high bench of southeast Draper, straddling the Salt Lake/Utah county line, were not built to city standards.
Some roads are crumbling throughout the development, with repairs estimated to cost upward of $25 million, based on a report by independent CMT Engineering Laboratories. The city wants SunCrest's developer to pay for repairs. SunCrest attorney Bruce Baird says there are only minor problems with some roads, and wants an apology from Draper for exaggerating the mess.
In the meantime, another developer, DJ Investment Group, and two adjacent landowners have sued Draper for allowing shoddy work in landslide-prone areas on the slopes of SunCrest. The suit says Draper has not done proper inspections and has not held SunCrest to industry construction standards.
DJ Group blames both Draper and SunCrest for potential flooding on undeveloped parcels that could be caused by a faulty retention pond on SunCrest land. The suit says another pond would drain into the faulty one.
Moreover, the lawsuit states that there are other problems with road access and water supplies that could force the DJ Group to build on fewer lots than the number the city approved.
"The city has got to stop allowing things to be built deficiently," David Mast, principal of the DJ Group, told The Tribune. "They have got to at least get a second opinion instead of taking the developer's word that the water, roads and infrastructure are sufficient, because they're not." We agree that any substandard construction in SunCrest is the fault of the developer. We also agree that the city has to take responsibility for substandard monitoring.
Unfair as it seems, taxpayers could shoulder the city's share of the cost for this bilateral negligence. We hope city officials have learned to be more cautious in the future. It could be a costly lesson.
